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8 steps to taking guilt-free holidays as a contractor

As a contractor, lots of people think you have it easy – they’re wrong. Yes, there are plenty of benefits of being a contractor employee like higher pay and more flexibility. But none of these are a given. Everything you get is based on hard work. For starters, you’ve got long hours to contend with and hard deadlines to meet. Then there’s the time you invest in maintaining a steady work flow as well as managing your owns finances and taxes. Just like everyone else, you need to recharge your batteries from time to time. Here are 8 simple steps for taking holidays as a contractor.

How to maintain a healthy work-life balance

When work ramps up, managing your own time can be tricky. Amidst the hard deadlines and long hours – not to mention the endless emails and client meetings – it’s easy to neglect that one person you might regularly overlook: you. Finding the right work-life balance can help you avoid burnout and boost productivity in your role. That’s why it’s important to set aside some time to hang out with friends or to chill out at home. Here are a few ways you can give your wellbeing and, in turn, your career a boost.

11 ways to spot a bad client (before it’s too late)

Clients are people too you know. Somewhere beneath that starched suit and industry jargon is a human being with actual feelings…just like you and me. They’re not necessarily bad people, but sometimes personalities simply don’t gel. This might lead to repercussions at work such as missed deadlines, failed targets, late payments and unnecessary levels of stress. It doesn’t have to be like this. Nip it in the bud right away, just say “no”. Here are a few ways to tell when a client might not be a good fit for you.

The do’s and don’ts of building your CV and LinkedIn profile

Want to give your job search an edge? Of course, you do. Maybe it’s time to spruce up your CV and LinkedIn profile – it’s not really a case of one or the other, the pair go hand-in-hand. Most of the time you’ll be found on LinkedIn, then your CV will be read if the employer likes what they see online. So you’ll need to consider what to include and where to include it. Luckily, we’ve got your back. Here are a few do’s and don’ts that can make or break your application.

How to invoice your client in 7 simple steps

Late hours? No problem. Early conference call? Of course. You love what you do. This is more than a career – it’s your passion. But let’s face it, you’re not running a charity. Everyone needs to get paid. Even a young Bill Gates needed some moolah to carry on the good work.

Everything you need to know about becoming a medical locum

More and more healthcare staff are suffering from burnout and leaving the sector for good. In 2017, a survey of junior doctors found that 70% worked in permanently under-staffed conditions, 80% felt excessive work-related stress, and a quarter felt their job was damaging their mental health*. Well, it doesn’t have to be that way – after all, your health is important too.

5 tips to succeed as a digital nomad

You live to travel. You love your job. Why not do both? With the right skills and a good internet connection, you can make a living anywhere. Hit deadlines from Delhi, present in Paris and Skype from Stockholm. Forget 9-5, take your office around the world. Soak up the sun on a pristine sandy beach or inhale crisp mountain air deep into your lungs – all while satisfying your passion for work and wanderlust.

The A-Z jargon buster: health insurance for contractors

Health insurance can be a bit of a minefield – choosing the right cover is hard enough without all that jargon. We’re here to make things simpler. Forget complicated industry terms. We’ve put together a list of important words and explained them in everyday language, so you can hit the ground running.

Freelance life: the power of self-branding

If you’re thinking of making, or have already made the gigantic leap from employment to self-employed, you’re probably wondering how you can get your business off the ground and start winning freelance gigs.

Effective advertising and connecting your business with people will go a long way in ensuring the gigs are lined up, as will building your brand and social media presence.

Maternity pay for the self-employed

When it comes to another mouth to feed in the family, the financial pressure can seem overwhelming, and that’s when you’ve got Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) coming in from an employer.

But you’ve given up being employed in favour of being self-employed – so who is going to provide the maternity pay? The brutal truth is that you aren’t entitled to maternity pay from an organisation if you’re a contractor – no matter how long you’ve been working there.

12 Tax Saving Tips for Small Businesses

As a small business owner, there are many ways to save tax and become even more profitable in your business. However, with so much to do in your business and so many hats to wear, it can be difficult to keep track of which savings you are entitled to. With this in mind, you may wish to consider these tax-saving tips over the coming year. Whilst the individual savings may seem small they can add up, especially if claimed every tax year and by each director (where permissible).

Privacy Notice

Contractor Supermarket Limited Limited (hereafter called Contractor Supermarket Limited) respects your privacy and will process your data in a fair and lawful way. This privacy notice outlines the way in which Contractor Supermarket Limited collects, processes and shares your data and how long we retain it for.

Where we get our data from We will received your data from:
Directly from you via phone, email or on our website; Introducers; Suppliers; Analytics providers; Advertising networks; Search information providers; Companies house; Electoral register; Land registry and Other publicly available sources.

What we use the information forWe will use the data for:
Providing you with the services that you have requested from ourselves; Marketing and market research; Fraud prevention and processing payments to third parties.

Contractor Supermarket Limited may from time to time use aggregated, or redacted data for any purpose. Although this comes from your personal data it is not considered personal data, as it does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity, and we are free to use this at any time.

Legal basis for processing data

Contractor Supermarket Limited will process personal data for the purposes already stated on one or more of the following legal basis:

Consent – you have consented to us using your personal data by adding your details to our website and reading this privacy notice. You can withdraw consent at any time by directing an email to [email protected];

Contractual obligation– It is necessary for us to process your data to perform the contract between Contractor Supermarket Limited and yourself, or to take any necessary steps at your request prior to entering into this contract;

Legal obligations – we may need to process data in order to fulfil Legal obligations for example audit purposes;

Legitimate interests – we may use your personal data to operate, promote or improve our services or use your data for analytics or in order to protect our business.

Contractor Supermarket Limited will use your data for the purpose for which it was collected, unless we consider that we reasonably need to use it for another reason, if that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we would like to use your data for any other purposes we will notify you and provide explanation as to the legal basis under which we will be able to use your data.

Data retention
Contractor Supermarket Limited will only keep your data:
As long as necessary to fulfil our contractual obligations or As long as necessary to fulfil legal and regulatory obligations

Contractor Supermarket Limited will determine the length of time we can keep your data by considering the above and:

Potential risk from unauthorised use or disclosure; the purposes for which we process your data and If we can achieve the same results some other way without requiring your data

We may anonymise your data allowing us to retain for as long as we wish as it can no longer be associated to yourself.

Transfer of data
Contractor Supermarket Limited ensure that there are adequate jurisdictional data protection regulations in place should your data be transferred outside of the EEA(you will be informed if this is necessary), Your data is currently stored inside the EEA and Contractor Supermarket Limited have data protection policies, procedures and safeguards in place to protect the security of your data.

Your rights You have the right:

To be informed– we will tell you when we collect data what we are going to do with it, primarily through this privacy notice;

Of access – you can contact Contractor Supermarket Limited in righting to request the information that we hold about you;

To Erasure – you can ask for your information to be deleted( this is not an absolute right and will depend on any legal restrictions) We will keep a list of your wish to be deleted to ensure you do not end up in our database again at any future time;

To rectification – you can ask for any information to be amended if it is inaccurate or incomplete;

To restrict processing – tells us to stop processing your data but allows us to keep hold of it for other agreed purposes;

To data portability – to transfer information to another business at your request (most used for instance such as changing bank accounts);

To object – to use of your data for marketing and profiling for marketing purposes. Our Legitimate interests do not outweigh your rights and freedoms, therefore you can cease us processing based on our legitimate interests;

To withdraw consent – you may withdraw consent to the processing of your data at any time, you can withdraw this consent by emailing or calling the following: [email protected], +353 71 932 0877;

To complain – if Contractor Supermarket Limited do not satisfactorily deal with your complaint you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Data Security
Contractor Supermarket Limited take data protection responsibilities very seriously and have ensured that your data is treated fairly, lawfully and with the respect it deserves. Contractor Supermarket Limited have took adequate measures to protect your data from being accidently lost, used, accessed or disclosed in any way that has not been authorised . We have these procedures in place to prevent breaches, however we shall inform you and the relevant regulatory bodies should any data breach occur.